Russia: Flooding causes US$700mln in forage crop losses

Flooding in Russia’s Far East has destroyed a large quantity of soybeans, heavily damaging the feed industry in the region, reported the news agency Soya News.

According to estimates by the Russian Soybean Union, total losses from the loss of forage crops due to flooding are estimated at RUB20bn (US$700mln).

According to the union, the losses of soybeans in Amur Region – one of the largest producer of this crop in Russia - will exceed RUB7bn (US$230mln).

Recently published data showed that in the Amur region the flooding destroyed 45,000 hectares of soybeans and waterlogged a further 326,000 hectares of the total 642,000 hectares. "In general where there is excessive water on crops, at least half of the crop harvest will be lost," said representatives of the Union.

At the same time the flooding in the Far East of Russia according to scientists will continue at least for another couple of days, which will cause additional damage to the local soybean crops and farmers have no way of protecting them. Experts predict that this will lead to a drop, this year, of 30-40% in the soybean harvest in this part of Russia.